[USA] Will Tariffs come about and lead to higher priced ebike parts

docw009 said:
Goggle sez "The Mountain Pass mine in California was a leading producer of rare earth elements (REEs) from the 1960s through the early 1990s, but eventually closed in 2002 due to rising environmental regulations and low-cost competition from China"

Rising environmental regulations? Let's call BS. It was originally shut down because the operators caused a lake to become dangerously radioactive from all the tailings dumped into it. I encourage the US mining the newly discovered lithium deposits in Nevada, but don't trust the newly re-invented EPA (no such thing as pollution anymore) to keep that from happening again.
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I mean this is the story of why all of the rare earth refining went to China, it is very dirty and so we didn't want that and they didn't care. It's not even really the mining, most of these rare earths are just refined as side product of larger scale mining of other minerals, but refining them out is either dirty or very expensive if you want to do it cleanly. Our only real hope here is new refining processes are developed that are cost effective and clean and while I think that is technologically possible it will take a lot of investment.
 
The status quo right now:
- we buy from another country that doesn't mind trashing it's environment because we don't want to pay the actual cost of doing it right ( will probably 2x the cost of the product ).
- we pat ourselves on the back for doing the right thing and buying an electric vehicle
- until this year, our federal government also subsidized shipping and looked the other way on all kinds of consumer product regulations, giving China a massive advantage, which further destroyed our once strong manufacturing base.

You want to make stuff here?

You're up against a mentality where people expect the benefits of something without the costs.
China went from post-communist hangover to a country with a robust middle class and near technological equivalence to the west by taking these dirty jobs the west didn't want.

They're so big that they now represent a serious military threat to the west, and they are the only country to sanction, legalize, and commercialize hacking of western infrastructure, which is currently doing 10's-100's of billions of damages per year to our nation's businesses. Essentially, they declared cyberwar on us because our govt has denied their land takeovers and the expansion they want to do. Our govt is barely holding back this giant.

I say we need to rethink taking the benefits of things without accepting the costs. It turns out there is no free lunch.
 
docw009 said:
Goggle sez "The Mountain Pass mine in California was a leading producer of rare earth elements (REEs) from the 1960s through the early 1990s, but eventually closed in 2002 due to rising environmental regulations and low-cost competition from China"

Rising environmental regulations? Let's call BS. It was originally shut down because the operators caused a lake to become dangerously radioactive from all the tailings dumped into it. I encourage the US mining the newly discovered lithium deposits in Nevada, but don't trust the newly re-invented EPA (no such thing as pollution anymore) to keep that from happening again.
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Who is goggle? Is this AI generated?
 
That's been their plan for long enough that you'd think someone in our govt would do something about it.
USA govt errs in the direction of being reactive instead of proactive.

So now we are deep in that reactive part.
 
Overall i wonder what the prospect of being able to buy an ebike motor looks like in the next 6 months.

Going to keep an ear to the ground on this and the computer situation, which is also quite sketchy at the moment.
 
I've got one backup motor but i don't feel good unless i have two.
Not sure if this is hoarder mentality creeping in or the most rational position an ebike enjoyer could take.

But at the moment there aren't any compelling innovations from China in the ebike space to buy in the first place, they just crank out the same stuff for decades, whereas the western companies are actually driving the art forward, so not being able to buy Chinese motors is maybe not a huge loss.
 
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I wanted to get a steel wheel to replace the space saver donut spare for my car at DiscountTire. but they couldn't find one in stock at nearby stores, Their supplier had them on 60 day back order, which means they're on a ship, Meanwhile, the tariff on steel had these things at close to a hundred bucks, The alloy wheels had jumped in price for the same reason.,
 
docw009 said:
I wanted to get a steel wheel to replace the space saver donut spare for my car at DiscountTire. but they couldn't find one in stock at nearby stores, Their supplier had them on 60 day back order, which means they're on a ship, Meanwhile, the tariff on steel had these things at close to a hundred bucks, The alloy wheels had jumped in price for the same reason.,
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Try junk yards.
 
docw009 said:
I wanted to get a steel wheel to replace the space saver donut spare for my car at DiscountTire. but they couldn't find one in stock at nearby stores, Their supplier had them on 60 day back order, which means they're on a ship, Meanwhile, the tariff on steel had these things at close to a hundred bucks, The alloy wheels had jumped in price for the same reason.,
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What vehicle ?
i cannot believe no one stateside makes steel or alloy wheels ?
or, as marty said look for a breakers yard or some online market place. There are always plenty on there.
PS … as a basic policy, i never buy a car that doesn’t have a full size spare, and certainly never anything with “runflat” type tyres.
 
neptronix said:
But at the moment there aren't any compelling innovations from China
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OK, where is the US invented cassette integrated torquesensor? Where is the US invented middrive with features like the DJI Avinox?
Putting 5kW and a dumb controller with a throttle into a bike is a no-brainer.
 
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stancecoke said:
OK, where is the US invented cassette integrated torquesensor? Where is the US invented middrive with features like the DJI Avinox?
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The bike industry is one of our core incompetencies lately. It's not a surprise. Our government has shaped a system that encourages high levels of fossil fuel consumption, while simultaneously discouraging manufacturing of anything remotely eco friendly. And over the last 15 years, there's been bipartisan efforts to make sure Americans cannot get their hands on all Chinese products which can displace fossil energy consumption. Under 1% of people commute by bicycle here. For the green energy enjoyer, this place is bleak.

I'm glad that despite the odds, Germany still keeps a niche in elite level manufacturing.

The beauty of global trade is that you and me can enjoy the fruits of everyone's niche, and we are all better off for having access to these things versus not.

I'm personally disinterested in going along with the current societal programming. It's a rotten thing for a government to do, to make people hate each other, and alienate them from each other. Rarely does it end well.

Conversely i love running a global community because it is the digital equivalent of a free trade zone for ideas, for better or worse. Hope you enjoy it too!
 
That's okay, i don't want to be the Test hamster for China while they are learning to make cars. And i absolutely don't want their cheapest one.

I also don't want all the electronics and spy crap.

Maybe most US consumers would gobble such a thing up but..
I'm most likely to build my own EV, unless someone comes up with a budget econobox EV that's fast. The kind of car i want doesn't exist in the states.
 
hillslayer@ said:
Your not making anything that would come close to what you could get in China for 5 grand unless you spend 5x more.https://youtu.be/26bX80LTnCw?si=4-thBf4o6FakuAPQ
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YouTube link is broke. I fix it.

CHINA Announce ALL New $4,999 Car Will Shakes The Entire EV Industry!


$5000 OK I will take one please.
 
neptronix said:
That's okay, i don't want to be the Test hamster for China while they are learning to make cars. And i absolutely don't want their cheapest one.

I also don't want all the electronics and spy crap.

Maybe most US consumers would gobble such a thing up but..
I'm most likely to build my own EV, unless someone comes up with a budget econobox EV that's fast. The kind of car i want doesn't exist in the states.
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Alright imagine a world that only cares about making the most efficient and durable and easily repaired form of transportation possible. That will never happen in the monetary hell we currently live in.China is just doing capitolism better than us but it still looks pretty shitty.
 
hillslayer@ said:
Alright imagine a world that only cares about making the most efficient and durable and easily repaired form of transportation possible. That will never happen in the monetary hell we currently live in.China is just doing capitolism better than us but it still looks pretty shitty.
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Not sure I would say better, different for sure.

marty said:
YouTube link is broke. I fix it.

CHINA Announce ALL New $4,999 Car Will Shakes The Entire EV Industry!


$5000 OK I will take one please.
Click to expand...

You have to remember all of those Chinese EV companies are burning money at an incredible rate, BYD was the only one making a very small profit and that was before the price war they are in. Not to say we don't do the same thing with unprofitable companies but just saying it's not as simple as look how cheap their EVs are without taking into account, massive government subsidies, skyrocketing debt (these EV companies are paying suppliers with IOUs dated over a year in the future), a price war spiraling out of control, widespread deflation, and questionable quality control from some (but not all, again less regulations and price war means you get corners everywhere you can, move product and worry about the brand later).
 
stancecoke said:
and is looking forward to soon replacing the USA as the world's largest economy
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China has had a 30%+ larger economy for a long time now.

I constantly hear Russia's military potential downplayed in the context of the Russian-Ukranian war, when it is said that Texas alone has a larger economy than Russia. Which is obviously absurd.

The size of the economy is measured in GDP, and things are much cheaper in China and Russia. A Texas mechanic replacing someone's car alternator for $1000 adds $1000 to the GDP. The same repair might cost only $100-200 in China or Russia.
 
this ($5000 EV youtube vid above) is just AI generated pics and videos. Does the thing exist at all?
 
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